Home Page

The purpose of this website is to allow former crew members (and their family/friends) of the USS Woodpecker(MSC 209) reconnect. Many of us attended ship reunions in the late 1990s and early 2000s but we have not had any recently. I have just repurchased this site for 5 more years. I will be rebuilding it. Anyone wishing to help can contact me. Please check back from time to time as the site gets built. And please SIGN THE GUESTBOOK. Bill Petrie 7/23/2010.

A native of Dalton, GA and Cleveland, TN. Mr. Parker had resided in Buncombe County since 1969. He retired from Norfolk Southern Railroad as an Engineer following 32 years of service.

He was a member of Sunrise Baptist Church where he served as a Deacon and sang in the church choir. He was a veteran of the US Navy, serving on the USS Woodpecker during the Vietnam War. Jim was onboard around 1963 and later served on the Epping Forest. He attended the Woodpecker reunion in Branson about 5 years ago.

Mr. Parker was the son of the late Arty Earl Parker and Verna Geneva Brackett Crum. He was also preceded in death by an infant daughter, Hope Elaine Parker; brother, Kenneth Parker; and sisters, Jane McIlwain and Carol Minge.

Surviving are his wife, Janet Louise Pipes Parker, whom he married June 17, 1967; son, Sean Edmond Parker and wife Robin, and their children, Collin and Ryan of Hingham, MA; daughter, Heather Jane Pound and husband Teddy, and their children, Parker Caroline and Cooper of Charleston, SC; sisters, Judy Garcia and Verna Crum, both of Cleveland, TN; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.